The present invention relates to a device for protecting and covering a rail for fixing the seats of a commercial aircraft equipped with a device for automatically varying the pitch of the seats.
It is usual, in conventional seat installations on board a commercial aircraft, to cover the floor rails on which the seats are fixed, by covers constituted by long pieces having a cross section adapted to the inner profile of the rails so as to hook thereon and of which the dimensions in length depend on the distance left free by the implantation of the seats, between the rear foot of one seat and the front foot of the following seat. It is also known to vary the "pitch" of the seats, i.e. the distance therebetween, by means of an automatic motorized device actuating a set of laths connecting the front feet of one seat and the rear feet of the following seat. Such a device is described in the U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 477,245 filed on Mar. 21, 1983 as Continuation-in-Part Application of the former Application Ser. No. 156,327 filed on June 4, 1980. It is therefore obvious that, in the event of such a pitch varying device being provided in a commercial aircraft, the conventional rail covers, of predetermined lengths, present the drawback of having to be replaced by others, whenever the pitch is changed, so as to cover the spaces left free on the rails by the new configuration of the seats.